Night of Desirable Objects

Soccer, it seems, is a universal language, one in which I am thankfully fluent – albeit a little rusty. 

Me with, clockwise from left:  Kara, Carlyn, Alice, and Stacy
at the "Top-Up Bar" on the roof of a hostel in Krabi

This past weekend, two girls living in Trang, the province below us, came to Krabi for a visit.  On our way to meet them at the bus stop, I felt the need to satisfy a carnal desire feel a soccer ball at my feet and purchased one…at a store that also happens to sell school supplies, go figure.

When we took Kara and Alice to check in at the hostel we frequented at the beginning of our time here, the guy who runs the place noticed me holding the ball and invited me to play with him and his friends that evening. 

This being Thailand, I should have known that when he said to come at five o’clock, he really meant five-thirty, and when he said “play,” he really meant juggle and kick around with two other people.  But still.  It was a blast considering how long it’s been since I last played (I’ve still got some skills believe it or not) and how long it’s been since I’ve had any physical activity (walking to the bus in the morning it turns out, does not qualify).

It was of course roughly 8000 degrees when we were playing so “overheated” doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt when I was finished.  I could not make the shower cold enough!

Spanish boys, from left: Atilla, Javier, Jose and James

After we took our new friends from Trang to our favorite street food (where we recently learned the Shake and Spring Roll Girl’s name is Yulie – probably spelled much different than that), we went to a rooftop bar up the street where we met a group of Spanish boys travelling through Thailand.  They were fun and friendly and defied all the usual stereotypes of the greasy, skeevy Spaniard, so we spent the rest of the night hanging out with them.

When I mentioned I had a football (yes, I’ve started calling the game “football”) in my room, excitement turned into a 2v3 game at 1:30am on the lawn outside our hotel.  Carlyn and I against three of the Spanish guys.  After a bunch of big talk on both sides, they realized we actually weren’t terrible and the game turned into tackle soccer (naturally, since that’s always how girls v. boys games end up when the boys realize they’re being schooled). 

It must have been quite the hilarious sight to see two white girls in dresses and bare feet playing soccer in the middle of the night in Thailand with three random Spanish dudes all trying desperately to keep the ball from popping into the river, but we had a blast….and had the mud-caked legs to prove it!

Demonstrating that Carlyn and I did, in fact,
kick their asses.

James and Javier were good sports
 about their loss....sort of.